Editorial – May 22, 2015
It was drawn to our attention this week that some discredit was disbursed in the direction of The Montserrat Reporter as being not as important at Radio Montserrat. The question we were told was,”which is the most important media in Montserrat?” The answer remained unknown to us and what was said further, but we are told that they completely dismissed The Montserrat Reporter.
Initially our response was not to dignify ignorance. But then later we heard the comment, from one person who said, not unkindly, but with concern, “…but no one reads the newspaper.”
We do not think it is important which media is more important, but would like the unsuspecting to know, they each are, as long as their purpose is to inform, educate, stimulate and to some lesser extent depending on the media, even to entertain; do we need to mention social media too.
We feel it necessary to point out that while the print copy of newspapers around the world may dwindle in numbers as more people find it is more convenient to access the information online, via the internet. But there is information that is far more meaningful in print and it is the reason why newspapers in print will not go away for a long time to come. There are many reasons and many have been expressed before. The phrase that what goes through the ear easily goes through the next, as against what goes in through the eyes go only to the brain, is very true. Besides if forgotten it is easily refreshed as it is available in print, unchanged and unadulterated as it was the first time it was seen.
Just checking the statistics online where tens of thousands read the newspaper of whom Montserrat with Antigua rank sixth, where yesterday 3,127 visits were made to the website. Yesterday ANU/MNI ranked fourth behind China, Ukraine, USA. On a monthly basis, Great Britain usually outranks us, but imagine a website that receives up to and over 2.5 million hits per month.
Unfortunately, and sadly, people in radio land while seeking to complain that people do not read, actually proudly proclaim, “(Montserratians) don/t like to read,” without realising the indictment they created. They even laud the statement, true or false: “If you want to hide something from a black man, put it in a book.”
We encourage further, never let any of this be true about you. parent or child, employer or worker…, leader, followers or servants!
The virtues of our leaders – how has that been affecting us
Now to some matters of concern. This week, looking for some information from the 1991 archived book, the eyes fell on an article in the newspaper of Friday, August 30, 1991, captioned ‘Politicians Like These’. It began, “In my article entitled Educate Populace about politics, I referred to and quoted from Dr. Fergus’ much spoken of article, ‘The Montserrat Case’. I used the following quotation: “Academic credential is not by itself a critical variable in election victories. The intellectual has to be community-minded with strong grassroots connections…if he is to impress the electorate.”
After a few lines in between it continued, ”But what does the Doctor mean by ‘strong grassroots connections’? Does the intellectual require this for an election victory, or is this an observation for the present? I claim some ignorance here and beg for some clarification.
The article however, was about awareness, in an attempt to help prepare the people for the upcoming sudden General elections.
So it continued: “A few weeks ago I quoted from Mr. Lester Bird, former Deputy Prime Minister of Antigua when he said, “…they deliberately seek to confuse loyalty to country with loyalty to Government.” In this case PLM.
He went on, “…every man and woman also has it within to judge when a Government has over-stepped its mark, when it has abused the trust reposed in it, when it no longer honours the people and, therefore, deserves no honour itself.”
Let us digest what an old writer who lived 551-478 B.C., said, ‘With the right men, the growth of good government is as rapid as the growth of vegetation is in the right soil. Indeed good government is like a fast growing plant.’ These men he said are called upon, ‘to use the principles of true manhood’.
This wise old man went on to say: ‘Unless those being ruled feel their proper place with respect to their rulers, government of the people is an impossibility It is necessary for a man of the governing class to set about regulating his personal conduct and character. In considering how to regulate his personal conduct and character, it is necessary for him to do his duties toward those nearly related to him; it is necessary for him to understand the nature and organization of human society and it is necessary for him to understand the laws of God.
‘There are some universal obligations such as those between ruler and subject, father and son, between husband and wife, elder brother and younger and those in the intercourse between friends. To carry out these obligations, he then must have these moral qualities, wisdom, compassion and courage. Some men are born with the knowledge of these qualities; some acquire it as the result of education or hard experience. Some exercise these qualities naturally and easily, some because they find it advantageous to do so and some with effort and difficulty. But when these are acquired and exercised, the achievement is one and the same thing.’
It was indeed Confucius who says: “Love of knowledge is akin to wisdom. Strenuous attention to conduct is akin to compassion. Sensitiveness to shame is akin to courage. When a man understands the nature and use of these he will understand how to put in order his personal conduct and character, and he will understand how to govern men and nations.’
In the article the question was asked, “Can we attach any of these qualities to the gang of four (4)?
We have noted this before coming out of the Good Book – Proverbs: “When the king is concerned about justice, the country is prosperous; but when the king is concerned it will lead to ruin.”
Proverbs 29:4: By justice a king gives stability to the land, but one who exacts gifts ruins it.
You do not have to ‘believe’ in the Good Book to understand and apply the relevance of these
Today the same questions are applied to our serving politicians, servants and leaders. We direct them to all of these virtues, for at the moment the situation in Montserrat leaves us to wonder, how much of these do our leaders in Montserrat possess?
All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others – George Orwell, “Animal Farm”. How many of those who studied that book at Secondary School or elsewhere, see the relevance today?
Wisdom and discernment, not just been, or being a scholar in something, these matter.
